The European Parliament won’t know what’s hit it if outspoken Robin Page – former One Man and his Dog presenter – is asked to step into the shoes of UKIP’s MEP Tom Wise, currently suspended over allegations of financial irregularities.

Last November Robin threw in the towel as a South Cambridgeshire councillor after 35 years, blaming political correctness and his denial to the right of free speech. He is very much in the same mould as Clarissa Dickson Wright.

Robin is next in line on UKIP’s list and said: “If it becomes necessary and I am asked, I will serve the remaining two years of Tom Wise’s term as an MEP.â€?

I can promise you that Robin is one of those characters who once seen is never forgotten. He was defiant to the end, arriving at his last meeting wearing a green waistcoat covered in sheep to remind everyone of his “baaingâ€? like a sheep throughout a meeting when Lib Dem councillors voted in unison.

He is very much a passionate country man at heart, I visited his farm a few years ago when I took my sons to see the reindeers he brought in at Christmas.  I just wonder if he will be a fish out of water in the quagmire of Brussels bureaucracy, can he be sure that he find his free voice there which was denied him in South Cambridgeshire? What will be dress up as if he wants to poke fun at other MEPs?